Vintage Video on Yonge Street (1974) - Toronto, Canada

Автокөліктер мен көлік құралдары

Film I shot on Yonge Street while studying at Ryerson in 1974 - converted to digital in 2019. No drones back then - I was flying the plane to capture the aerials. Title design credit goes to my brother, Andrew Csefko (who also appears at :29s - with the beard). Enjoy!

Пікірлер: 164

  • @Parkwaymania
    @Parkwaymania3 жыл бұрын

    Who else watches these old videos and looks for people you knew?

  • @maryanngonneau2856

    @maryanngonneau2856

    3 жыл бұрын

    I looked for myself lol

  • @xierraleone1905

    @xierraleone1905

    2 жыл бұрын

    I don’t because I’m not old

  • @PopShoppekid

    @PopShoppekid

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@maryanngonneau2856 yes I was 15 at that time. And we would come in from Mississauga and get into a bit of trouble on Yonge St 😂

  • @funkfunkable

    @funkfunkable

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes..I'm 66 and found one!! Me and my best friend walking east on Charles St ( where I lived) towards Yonge Street . We were like 8 or 9..all alone, not a care in the world. Best childhood ever. I saved the video. I was shocked to see my young self.

  • @barney6888

    @barney6888

    2 ай бұрын

    I was looking to see Sam leaning out on his front door.

  • @Redhackle
    @Redhackle9 ай бұрын

    This was my Toronto. I was 22 a starving art student at the Ontario College of Art. It was very safe and people were friendly.

  • @oliviajohnjohnolivia8142

    @oliviajohnjohnolivia8142

    4 ай бұрын

    I hope you are not starving 😊

  • @sevind7

    @sevind7

    2 ай бұрын

    probably rose tinted glasses. Yonge street was far from safe back then. It's much better now.

  • @ianarchibald1423

    @ianarchibald1423

    2 ай бұрын

    @@sevind7 Yeah, in those days it was dirty, sleazy, and crawling with weirdos. Toronto, like most cities has been completely gentrified. Is it ideal? Perhaps not, but the city is generally safer now I would think.

  • @thegoldendog7991

    @thegoldendog7991

    Ай бұрын

    ⁠@@sevind7 Yes. Yonge St went through a change following the Emanuel Jaques murder.

  • @1dilligaf

    @1dilligaf

    Ай бұрын

    @@ianarchibald1423 I was 14 years old and me and my friend used to go down and hang out on Young Street all the time ( at the arcade by Sam the record Man ) and we never once had an issue I wouldn’t dare let my 14 year-old kid go and hang out down on Young Street now

  • @northhavencreative
    @northhavencreative2 жыл бұрын

    The Imperial Six and Sam The Record Man. That's when you knew you were on Yonge Street in the 70s.

  • @bgorveatt

    @bgorveatt

    Ай бұрын

    Why is it B/W?

  • @ytzpilot

    @ytzpilot

    7 күн бұрын

    @@bgorveattblack and white film was cheaper back then, film was expensive

  • @100PaulRees
    @100PaulRees16 күн бұрын

    Is was born in Regent Park 1960 and basically grew up on Yonge Street. This just brings back soooo many memories. Thanks for posting.

  • @khent712
    @khent712Ай бұрын

    I emigrated to Toronto Canada from England in 1974, this brings back memories for sure.

  • @curiousbo
    @curiousbo Жыл бұрын

    I was obsessed with those popcorn / candy apple carts when I was a kid

  • @CinHalCedHerChance

    @CinHalCedHerChance

    18 күн бұрын

    1:53 - please use time stamps, others would really appreciate it, only takes a second

  • @MML996
    @MML9962 жыл бұрын

    I was 14 and miss those days

  • @mattwaters6987
    @mattwaters698713 күн бұрын

    Great flick! I was 15 and now 64. This brings back good memories of old.

  • @GP-ed1ti
    @GP-ed1ti Жыл бұрын

    The candy apple and popcorn carts! I can still smell them!

  • @CinHalCedHerChance

    @CinHalCedHerChance

    18 күн бұрын

    1:53 - please use time stamps, others would really appreciate it, only takes a second

  • @marmaly
    @marmaly10 ай бұрын

    Outstanding film. It really captures the look and feel of 1974.

  • @BeeRich33
    @BeeRich33Ай бұрын

    Whoah, memories! I was 5. Imperial 6 = Star Wars / Close Encounters.

  • @michaelsweenie-lane359
    @michaelsweenie-lane3597 ай бұрын

    This is the first year I hit Yonge Street as a teen - Still remember exiting the Wellesley Subway station on my way to buy a pair platforms and Master Johns

  • @ingenewell5359

    @ingenewell5359

    Ай бұрын

    Omg! Good times, had 2 pairs of there shoes, add some satin pants, and off to see Bowie at the okeefe centre 👍♥️

  • @gregoryian123
    @gregoryian123 Жыл бұрын

    boy did we love city back then

  • @RideAcrossTheRiver

    @RideAcrossTheRiver

    Ай бұрын

    It's a hole now.

  • @monicapushkin3274
    @monicapushkin32747 ай бұрын

    Awesome, this is priceless. So sad this is all gone.

  • @glennledrew8347

    @glennledrew8347

    Ай бұрын

    And 50 years from now folk will be bemoaning the loss of those glorious days of 2024. ;) It has ever been the so, and always will be, when nostalgia is given free rein. The halcyon days of our younger years elicit potent feelings about those simpler and more care-free times. Particularly where our teen years are concerned, when we begin to leave childhood behind while still having the security of a family and home. But this nostalgia thing is a rolling train, following us throughout life, trailing behind by about 30 years and more. Calling to us with memories given a rosier tint, being always compared to the current travails of modern living. And who would have it any other way? That special mixture of wistful longing and warming glow of reflecting back on long past times is one of the wonderful pleasures afforded by an imaginative, reflective, contemplative consciousness. It is an aspect of the way in which time heals.

  • @monicapushkin3274

    @monicapushkin3274

    Ай бұрын

    @@glennledrew8347 Very true. I recall reading one of the ancient Greek writers bemoaning his present day, and how much better it was in the "good old days" 2500 years ago! You can find this throughout literature going back centuries.

  • @RideAcrossTheRiver

    @RideAcrossTheRiver

    Ай бұрын

    @@glennledrew8347 Nobody is celebrating Toronto today.

  • @RideAcrossTheRiver

    @RideAcrossTheRiver

    Ай бұрын

    @@monicapushkin3274 No, now that cameras and AI are here, it'll be about five years.

  • @ClintScottFischer
    @ClintScottFischer6 күн бұрын

    I was 1 year's old. I think this might have been the year they started building the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

  • @TheAverycross
    @TheAverycross4 жыл бұрын

    Great film with a touch of jazz! I enjoyed it very much:)

  • @wolfgangzander3972
    @wolfgangzander397227 күн бұрын

    I was in Toronto 1974 and I enyoid it very much. At that time I turned to 21 years. Now I am already 71 years old 😢😊

  • @Jim-ku6ry
    @Jim-ku6ryАй бұрын

    Memories... Hook up with the boys after work on a Friday. Start off at Yonge St Station for 50 cents draughts ordered by the tray. Sometimes we'd head over the Old Spaghetti Factory for a bite or just hit one of the many pubs on Yonge. Tons of live music back in the day. The Gas Works was great rock club. Not too hard to take a gal home after. Once things closed, 1 am back in those days we'd usually hit the Happy Lucky Chinese food joint at Bloor St or head up to Yonge and St Clair and hit Frans all night diner for bite to soak up the booze and head home. No bar fights. No shootings or stabbings. No BS. Just a great night out on the town. Really miss those days

  • @johnw706
    @johnw70627 күн бұрын

    Outstanding . Oh how I miss Sam the Record Man . I spent a lot of Saturday mornings there in the late 60s and early 70s . Thanks !

  • @shawnattwells5355
    @shawnattwells5355 Жыл бұрын

    I miss Sam the Record Man. 😢

  • @kenkur27
    @kenkur27 Жыл бұрын

    That was the summer I moved to Toronto for grad studies at U of T, spent a fair bit of time exploring Yonge St. A long stretch of the street was closed to cars and turned into a pedestrian mall.

  • @marymarymillidweeb2661
    @marymarymillidweeb26613 жыл бұрын

    I wish it was longer! But thanks for sharing what you have.

  • @elid3906

    @elid3906

    Жыл бұрын

    Me Too 👍🏼

  • @intercommerce
    @intercommerce4 ай бұрын

    Yonge St. used to be fun! Too bad it got ruined...

  • @CinHalCedHerChance

    @CinHalCedHerChance

    18 күн бұрын

    I was there last night, OMG, what happened????????????????????????????? I don't recognize it anymore, it's like a movie set with big buildings and seedy little sidestreets and Ubers all over with bikes

  • @GFiacconi
    @GFiacconi3 жыл бұрын

    This is a great video that deserves more views! Thanks so much for sharing this awesome footage of our city!

  • @lee-ann1589
    @lee-ann15893 жыл бұрын

    I remember it and I loved the film!

  • @Argonaut121
    @Argonaut121Ай бұрын

    I have lived my entire life in Toronto. I turned 20 in 1974. Unlike a lot of folks my age I really don't look back at those days with rose-coloured glasses. As this video make clear, Toronto was dirtier, scruffier, less interesting all round. Great video, BTW.

  • @JustFluffyQuiltingYarnCrafts
    @JustFluffyQuiltingYarnCrafts Жыл бұрын

    Excellent work. Thanks for sharing. ♥️

  • @Laughandsong
    @Laughandsong3 жыл бұрын

    At the time you shot this, I was 7 years old in Montreal I live in Toronto since 1994 and just love to see old footage. Great music score too! Did you end up working as a cinematographer? Thanks again!

  • @robmil2012
    @robmil20125 ай бұрын

    Toronto was a safe place at one time mr sub at yonge and dundas was always open baskin robbins was open late at DUNDAS SQUARE Across from elcockador before the Eaton center was built 😊

  • @TributetoCanada
    @TributetoCanada2 жыл бұрын

    Amazing and thank you!

  • @nikaa4237
    @nikaa4237Ай бұрын

    Great to see old videos of Toronto. I see a lot of comments where some people feel that it was safer while others say it was pretty seedy. On one hand I remember travelling downtown on my own when I was 15 to buy art supplies and I would go out and about on my own at about 12! Then again I remember being in my late teens and heading downtown and being followed by guys and creepy guys walking by and making comments. And yes I just wouldn't walk down certain parts of Yonge street.

  • @canman5060
    @canman50603 жыл бұрын

    1:45 I missed SAM The Record Man.

  • @johnchumadventures8075
    @johnchumadventures80753 ай бұрын

    Dang I remember going g to that theater.

  • @marcoarchilaus
    @marcoarchilaus13 күн бұрын

    Safe, Clean, Friendly and thriving that was Canada before the current madness

  • @trainluvr
    @trainluvrАй бұрын

    Around the time of my first enchantment with T.O.

  • @dg1006

    @dg1006

    Ай бұрын

    Mine was 1969.

  • @rontyler1234
    @rontyler12345 ай бұрын

    Wonderful video, I spent a lot of time on the strip way back in the day. It's great to look back in time. Thanks man.

  • @MissEddieBlueKawaiiKrafts
    @MissEddieBlueKawaiiKrafts3 жыл бұрын

    I wasn’t born till 81’ but omg Tysm!! Even this is closer to what I knew then how it is now 😅💖

  • @xierraleone1905

    @xierraleone1905

    2 жыл бұрын

    You should follow me on Instagram

  • @BrianBaileyedtech
    @BrianBaileyedtech10 ай бұрын

    Awesome vid! I was 10 when this was taken and we used to drive down to Toronto from Kingston a couple times a year to stay in the big city. Used to stay at the what was then the new Holiday Inn beside the new City Hall on Chestnut street. You can see the stub of the CN Tower under construction, people were afraid that when it was completed it was going to fall and kill people in a wide radius (I kid you not)! The city today is completely unrecognizable. Yonge Street was the sleaze capital of Canada in those years just before they built the Eaton Centre. Amazing.

  • @andrewmarkmusic
    @andrewmarkmusicАй бұрын

    It was about this time I went down to Sam’s and bought the original Lynryd Skynard album with them in fire. I believe they were using helicopters to put up the CN. tower on that day. In a way, it was on that day at 15 that I knew (GNOSIS) what Toronto was and who owned it and why things have happened in the way they have. And yeah...I busked in the pit at Dundas and Young between 79 and 85...I still have the guitar that has the dents when coins hit it:-P

  • @outonthetiles
    @outonthetiles3 жыл бұрын

    Awesome!! ✌️❤️🇨🇦

  • @ecologics
    @ecologics2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for sharing

  • @dlprod11
    @dlprod11 Жыл бұрын

    Great film!

  • @gregoryworth84
    @gregoryworth8410 ай бұрын

    zumburgers ! likely the best burgers in toronto ! i often frequented the location on bloor east just east of yonge...MrMiniCooper79, thanks for the memories !

  • @Sam-yg7pc
    @Sam-yg7pcАй бұрын

    I remember slum street very well.

  • Ай бұрын

    I was the guy at sam's and I was very polite and forthcoming with admiration and pontalnax with booky booky.

  • @helenpage7988
    @helenpage7988 Жыл бұрын

    Love this. The gal around .57 secs. looks very much like I did then! Several friends agree, but would have been earlier than 74. Any chance some shots are earlier? It's just uncanny!

  • @whackattack4634
    @whackattack4634Ай бұрын

    I loved the imperial 6. Actually everything back then was better

  • @peterhogan9537
    @peterhogan9537 Жыл бұрын

    I remember the Yonge st. crossing back then. they had great bands.

  • @historybuff333
    @historybuff3332 жыл бұрын

    This is super. I love it. How can I get a hold of you to ask a question ?

  • @bladder1010
    @bladder10107 ай бұрын

    Yonge Street is Fun Street! 🤩

  • @CosminNeagu
    @CosminNeagu3 жыл бұрын

    Hi! Can I cut and use some of the shots for a video? This clip is awesome!

  • @clearlynotwoke4929
    @clearlynotwoke4929 Жыл бұрын

    What’s missing from the crowd?

  • @BigLisaFan

    @BigLisaFan

    11 күн бұрын

    Turdo’s people.

  • @maryanngonneau2856
    @maryanngonneau28563 жыл бұрын

    That's awesome. Brings back some memories as I used to work downtown then. Lots of sex shops blatantly selling their toys and I remember back then they were busted and most run out of town when a little shoe shine boy was murdered.

  • @MissEddieBlueKawaiiKrafts

    @MissEddieBlueKawaiiKrafts

    3 жыл бұрын

    Omg that is so sad 😞 I wasn’t around there till the 90’s but my friend Junior was also murdered. We lived in an abandoned building together with about 20 other kids at the corner of Church & Carlton, I was only 14 when he was killed

  • @maryanngonneau2856

    @maryanngonneau2856

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@MissEddieBlueKawaiiKrafts wow 14 and living on the streets. Sorry to hear you were in that situation. :( The Shoe Shine boy was very upsetting. Here is the story en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Emanuel_Jaques

  • @stumarston6812

    @stumarston6812

    Жыл бұрын

    kzread.info/dash/bejne/qIaJrM-hdNOZpJc.html If you stop the video at around 2.42 there are two young boys in the picture. In the comments, a guy says he's certain that the young boy is Emmanuel Jacques and the older boy shining the shoes is his brother. The dates match up. The guy who posted the video says he took the pictures in late July 1977. Emmanuel was abducted around that time. Very sad.

  • @ranaldthurgood4875

    @ranaldthurgood4875

    Жыл бұрын

    @@stumarston6812 I'm confused. The video is only 2 minutes and 16 seconds long, and made in 1974. Are you perhaps referring to a different video? (Added: I think you're referring to a video called "Toronto 1977."

  • @sadee1287
    @sadee1287 Жыл бұрын

    Seems like the "red district" part of Toronto.... I recall those fur coats and the "hippie" hairstyles that carried over from the 60s. Wow - lots of garbage blowing around Yonge back in '74! And those Hare Krishnas chanting up and down.......haven't seen them around in decades. I wonder if you re-shot the same area today how it would compare 48 years later......

  • @americanparlor9994
    @americanparlor99943 жыл бұрын

    Great clip. Looking to contact you about it. Let me know if there's a way to get in touch. Thanks!

  • @JJWiseFilms
    @JJWiseFilms Жыл бұрын

    @MrMiniCooper79 I would like to use a clip from this video in documentary feature.

  • @howardhulstein6530
    @howardhulstein6530Ай бұрын

    Wow, that really brings a whole bunch of great memories!! ✌️👍

  • @AlannahRyane
    @AlannahRyane7 ай бұрын

    Yep cruisin Young st in 74 was the thing to do... Zumburger and munchies

  • @RideAcrossTheRiver

    @RideAcrossTheRiver

    Ай бұрын

    Now Toronto is just a boring playground for the wealthy.

  • @markmarsh27
    @markmarsh27Ай бұрын

    Shocking how filthy the streets were back then.

  • @urbexandbrokenthings4806
    @urbexandbrokenthings4806Ай бұрын

    Toronto was so nice back when people had civil liberties

  • @DarrylGold
    @DarrylGold29 күн бұрын

    More Starvin Marvins !

  • @Bryan-nc3te
    @Bryan-nc3te Жыл бұрын

    It's like midnight cowboy set in Tirana

  • @lamontcranston3177

    @lamontcranston3177

    Жыл бұрын

    See the Canadian movie "Going Down The Road". Two Newfies come to Toronto for fame and fortune and wind up hanging out on 1970s Yonge St.

  • @Grimenoughtomaketherobotcry

    @Grimenoughtomaketherobotcry

    Ай бұрын

    I liked the SCTV version better.​@@lamontcranston3177

  • @RideAcrossTheRiver

    @RideAcrossTheRiver

    Ай бұрын

    @@lamontcranston3177 You mean the _SCTV_ parody.

  • @lamontcranston3177

    @lamontcranston3177

    Ай бұрын

    @@RideAcrossTheRiver That too! Ha ha !

  • @RideAcrossTheRiver

    @RideAcrossTheRiver

    Ай бұрын

    @@lamontcranston3177 "Garth, Garth! I just got her pregnant!" "Mohhhhhhpe ... now I'll have to move to Etobicoke ..."

  • @ranaldthurgood4875
    @ranaldthurgood4875 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for posting that. you captured it well, but... no Papaya Hut?

  • @lamontcranston3177

    @lamontcranston3177

    Жыл бұрын

    At Elm St. and Yonge?

  • @ranaldthurgood4875

    @ranaldthurgood4875

    Жыл бұрын

    @@lamontcranston3177 That's right, with the carved coconut heads. It seemed exotic at the time!

  • @lamontcranston3177

    @lamontcranston3177

    Жыл бұрын

    @@ranaldthurgood4875 I lived up the street on Elm. I would arrange to meet people at the Hut all the time.

  • @disprogreavette8545
    @disprogreavette85452 жыл бұрын

    The year I was born and my mum was working for Bell downtown at the time. Maybe I'll see her waddling down the road ?

  • @dennistowell343
    @dennistowell343 Жыл бұрын

    Were you in RTA or Photo Arts?

  • @bobsfanjoy6569
    @bobsfanjoy6569Ай бұрын

    💖🙃

  • @eltitojear
    @eltitojear10 ай бұрын

    Hello, I would like to use your video to animate a music video, would you give me permission?❤

  • @elainelane1119
    @elainelane11195 ай бұрын

    I was 17 yrs old😊

  • @oldpossum57
    @oldpossum5712 күн бұрын

    The Hare Krishnas outside Sam’s. They used to show up at Loyola College, Montreal, as well. I don’t know where their ashram was.

  • @ayoutuber0202
    @ayoutuber020210 ай бұрын

    Did you know Dermot Kenney, he did the midnight til dawn show on CJRT? How about Tony Lamana? Third year RTA grads in '72.

  • @FrankKnight8846
    @FrankKnight88465 ай бұрын

    I was born in Toronto January 1974 👍🏻

  • @buckodonnghaile4309

    @buckodonnghaile4309

    Ай бұрын

    How's it feel being 50? I've still got a few months before that hits. Cheeds

  • @FrankKnight8846

    @FrankKnight8846

    Ай бұрын

    @@buckodonnghaile4309 so far so good, it’s going great

  • @waivedwench
    @waivedwench11 ай бұрын

    You can see why it was a place best avoided in those days!! Any idea what month of the year this was filmed?

  • @RideAcrossTheRiver

    @RideAcrossTheRiver

    Ай бұрын

    Toronto is best avoided today too.

  • @jvcpaints
    @jvcpaintsАй бұрын

    Look how thin everyone was.

  • @Valmiki168
    @Valmiki168Ай бұрын

    It wasn't too diverse back then

  • @kennova01
    @kennova0119 күн бұрын

    When toronto was a good safe city..not anymore..

  • @donmorfeo8901
    @donmorfeo89015 ай бұрын

    Alot of wild and bad stuff happened on that street, 1977 was the end of it.

  • @davidmorgen4558
    @davidmorgen45586 ай бұрын

    One shot look like Abbie Hoffman ?

  • @MyViewToronto
    @MyViewToronto4 ай бұрын

    It looks like a Depression

  • @Bryan-nc3te
    @Bryan-nc3te Жыл бұрын

    Schneiderman's music hall

  • @WestboundPromo416
    @WestboundPromo4164 жыл бұрын

    toronto, city of champions

  • @ricladouceur6202
    @ricladouceur62022 ай бұрын

    I could easily have been in this video! The only thing they missed was the Church of Scientology!

  • @wesdowling1340
    @wesdowling13405 ай бұрын

    Sure this is Toronto don't see any guys wearing those funny cowboy hats

  • @richardleonard4281
    @richardleonard42812 жыл бұрын

    I wonder what happened to the Hare Krishna people?

  • @Hossak

    @Hossak

    Жыл бұрын

    We had them in Adelaide, south Australia in the 70s and 80s. They would come chanting into the city mall daily. No idea what happened to them here either.

  • @danielthoman7324

    @danielthoman7324

    Жыл бұрын

    They moved to Nunavut.

  • @Hossak

    @Hossak

    Жыл бұрын

    @@danielthoman7324 Found em! kzread.info/dash/bejne/eK6autiNpb2rXaQ.html&ab_channel=Shout%21Factory

  • @lamontcranston3177

    @lamontcranston3177

    Жыл бұрын

    Declined due to corruption. Public lost interest. No new converts. They're still around but they are no longer obsessed with growing.

  • @MarcusDaGrand

    @MarcusDaGrand

    2 ай бұрын

    They became yuppies in the 80's.

  • @RideAcrossTheRiver
    @RideAcrossTheRiverАй бұрын

    Back before all the "world class city" nonsense.

  • @mikeohagan2206
    @mikeohagan2206Ай бұрын

    no screaming protesters.

  • @entertain402
    @entertain40212 күн бұрын

    starvin marvins...the beginning of the alphabet nightmare

  • @rackrawan3191
    @rackrawan31913 жыл бұрын

    1:29 proves young street always had bums those were the for fathers for all bums you see on young street now 🤣

  • @MissEddieBlueKawaiiKrafts

    @MissEddieBlueKawaiiKrafts

    3 жыл бұрын

    Ikr when I saw that I was like this is the first true representation of Young Street yet 😅🙈😋

  • @Alsatiagent

    @Alsatiagent

    2 жыл бұрын

    That was a religious sect, they were called Hare Krishna's.

  • @marks.3303

    @marks.3303

    Жыл бұрын

    And it was even worse in the 30s and before.

  • @lamontcranston3177

    @lamontcranston3177

    Жыл бұрын

    Those are members of Iskcon. They are singers of the names of the Lord.

  • @andrewcharles459
    @andrewcharles459Ай бұрын

    The Hare Krishnas made me LOL. Gawd, they were annoying.

  • @L1V2P9
    @L1V2P9Ай бұрын

    I forgot all about Zumburger. Nothing remarkable about it accept the name.

  • @TheNZDoug
    @TheNZDougАй бұрын

    Sam the Record Man. “ got any third Reich marching music”? 4rth floor!

  • @jorgesoberanes2378
    @jorgesoberanes2378 Жыл бұрын

    70's fashion: yikes

  • @sisuriffs
    @sisuriffsАй бұрын

    But what pronouns were they using?

  • @glen6945
    @glen69452 ай бұрын

    oooohhhhyes----1974

  • @glen6945
    @glen69452 ай бұрын

    oooohhhhyes

  • @celestemackenzie2024
    @celestemackenzie20242 жыл бұрын

    I would like to contact you about licencing part of this for a CBC doc. series. Could you post your email? Or, search for me on Facebook. Thank you.

Келесі